expats, archivist, language-issues, local-gossip, local-politics, corruption, multicultural, multigenerational, cartels, Caribbean, island-life, international-crimes, smuggling, political-corruption, politics, situational-humor, secret-agent, embassy-staff*****

The stranger died and things began to change all over their seedy neighborhood as the dog changed Bebéi's life. The friends and acquaintances began to look into the dead man's life and found that he had died over thirty years ago! There is an abundance of characters and many have the equivalent of aliases but some are clearly more memorable than others. In addition, there are a number of instances of situational humor that can slip by unless the reader is alert! Unusual for Americans and maybe British, but much resemblance to other Portuguese and South American novelists.
I requested and received an EARC from Charlesbridge via NetGalley. Thank you!

I would like to thank Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy of The Condor’s Riddle, a standalone mystery set in Santa Clara by the Sea in, perhaps, Panama.

A man lies dead in front of the convent in Santa Clara, Bebéi, a French Algerian archivist, adopts his dog, but to keep it he needs to find out who the man was and what he was doing in Santa Clara. To do that he works with a motley band of local residents who have their own agendas.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Condor’s Riddle, which is a character driven novel with quite a few twists and turns. It is definitely outside my usual comfort zone of straight crime, but it has a warmth and joie de vivre that draw the reader in and don’t let go.

Much of this joy stems from Bebéi’s character. He is a naive and relatively simple soul, but one who has a photographic memory. He is also an outsider, who finds friends and joy in Santa Clara, which is uplifting. His friends are colourful and plentiful, and exist on the fringes of society. They all have a voice and a contribution and it takes a while to keep them all straight in the mind. Even the author has things to say.

I’m not even sure that I can explain the plot which involves drug gangs, international intrigue, secrets, horse trading, indigenous beliefs and even a hint of El Dorado. It is quite complicated with all the different agendas and so much unknown. It all revolves around the dead man, his former activities and secrets. I found it fascinating and absorbing.

The Condor’s Riddle is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The Condor’s Riddle by Marcelo Antinori is a complex mystery that begins with the discovery of a dead body in a Caribbean village and expands exponentially until everyone in the village is involved. The epicenter of the story is Bebéi, who recently relocated from Paris to accept a position as an archivist at the French Embassy in Santa Clara by the Sea. It is Bebéi who finds the body outside the old Dominican convent and feels obligated to take care of the dog left behind by its now-deceased owner. It is Bebéi who is determined to identify the body with the help of the incredible cast of characters who populate the village. It is Bebéi, along with the rest of the townspeople, who is confused when the dead body is revealed to be Don Francisco, a man who was thought to have died several years earlier in a plane crash.

Solving the first mystery leads to a more complicated one when it turns out that Don Francisco was a drug cartel money launderer known as The Condor. The revelation that he was still alive years after he supposedly died threatens local restaurant owner Doña Ilona and anyone in the village who tries to protect her. The investigation into Don Francisco’s other life brings both international intrigue and government agencies to Santa Clara by the Sea. Questions abound as to why Don Francisco came back to the village before he died and whether it had anything to do with his interest in the legendary lost City of Gold. Bebéi and his friends must find the answers to these and other questions before life in Santa Clara by the Sea can return to normal.

Antinori quickly draws the reader into the story with the narrator expressing his frustration that his plan to give the reader more background information was interrupted by Bebéi discovering the dead body. Antinori’s vivid descriptions of the characters and scenes set in Santa Clara by the Sea add local atmosphere to every aspect of the story. While Antinori is a master at juggling all the pieces of this sprawling puzzle, at times the number of characters and plotlines are a challenge to follow. Even Bebéi, whose photographic memory is one of the keys to solving the mystery of The Condor’s reappearance, is sometimes forgotten as the narrative systematically works through all the subplots that emerge. Although Antinori manages to resolve everything in the end, it would have been an easier journey if he had chosen a less circuitous route.